


Twin-Edged Sword

by taichara



Category: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-21
Updated: 2014-05-21
Packaged: 2018-01-26 00:27:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1668020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taichara/pseuds/taichara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In Modeoheim's aftermath, Cloud asks for some guidance.  Little does he know just how important that will become.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Twin-Edged Sword

**Author's Note:**

  * For [roseargent](https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseargent/gifts).



> Request 1  
> Fandom(s): Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII  
> Request:  
> Zack & Cloud. I would be thrilled with either slash or friendship gen. I realise this is probably one of the most written-about pairings ever, but I actually never really liked Cloud much until this game so I've never sought Cloud-centric fic out before. I'd really like to see more of Cloud being *Cloud*, the person he was before the Mako poisoning and trauma messed up his memory and left him trying to be Zack. And of course, more Zack is always better. Always. I love their smalltown-boys bond, and how eager Zack seems to be to be friends, right from the start. I would be equally pleased with highlighting their moments of happiness, or with the heart-breaking woe that is their ending.

“… Sorry. If I’d – if I’d kept my grip on Hollander, then …”

Zack, silent since that final fatal showdown in Modeoheim’s frozen baths, jerked his head up and away from the Buster Sword – Angeal’s sword – blinking owlishly. Next to him in the cramped cargo hold perched Cloud (how long ago had they been joking about shared hayseedness? It felt like a lifetime), eyes shadowed and dull with his own self-doubt.

Now that just wouldn’t do.

Despite himself – despite the pain still gnawing at him – Zack grinned and chucked Cloud on the shoulder, making the slighter man rock slightly in his seat.

“Nothing to be sorry for there. No, really. A lot of folks wouldn’t dive into danger the way you did – that took guts. Sure you got laid out flat but …”

He paused, taking a breath; Cloud looked ready to either glance away or argue but the moment passed as quickly as it came. Zack shook his head, then paused to rub ruefully at his jaw and the fresh scars even materia had not erased.

“… But that’s nothing to be ashamed of. You did good.”

And silence reigned again, Zack slowly slouching to rest his forehead against the Buster’s still-stained flat while Cloud sank back in his own seat. For a long time he just gnawed on his lip a little; some internal debate was clearly on his mind and the tiny activity caught Zack’s attention despite himself, as he found himself wondering whether he should maybe rattle or joke the thing right out of that spiky blonde skull or not. 

Luckily for Cloud’s bodily integrity, he worked up his nerve before Zack made up his mind.

“… I know I’m not good enough for SOLDIER. Not now, maybe not ever.  
“But … I want to try to be better. Zack …”

He looked for all the world like a nervous schoolboy – or a wide-eyed country boy in the big city, maybe. Somehow Zack kept a straight face.

“Yeah?”

Cloud blinked, flushed, then pointed towards the weapons rack clipped to the chopper’s walls. It still held a few spare swords.

“… Do you think you could show me, just the basics?”

_Oh ho ~_

“Yeah. Yeah, I can do that.”

-*-

“Okay, now find your balance – like me, watch where my feet go – relax your grip – not _that_ relaxed – there, like that! – okay, come at me again –“

It was just as well the SOLDIER floor was all but deserted; or else, Zack figured, he would have had a hell of a lot of explaining to do. But the place was a ghost town (except for Kunsel, who apparently thought the whole thing was hilarious) and no one caught on to the SOLDIER First Class who was giving sword lessons to some grunt in the Training Room.

Which was just as well, really, because they were on the fourth day of sneaking in those lessons.

Zack half expected to be hauled off by his collar any time now; but it never came, and the slowly growing confidence in Cloud’s face more than made it all worthwhile.

_As long as I remember to pull my punches, anyway. The bruises got better!_

_Oop –_

Cloud was almost on top of him, sword flailing. The sound of blade scissoring against blade sliced through the air as Zack blocked the charge and began to push his assailant back across the floor – and a sword clattered to the tiles as Cloud flamed red with embarrassment, shaking a hand gone numb.

“I thought I had it that time.”

“Hey, you held the counterblock! Just a matter of working on your grip and wrist action, see?  
“The sword’s not going to bite; just trust your instincts and find the sweet spot.  
“Here, I’ll show you.”

Clipping his own blade to his harness, Zack stooped, retrieved the fallen weapon, and took up a spot on his student’s right all in one motion that left Cloud blinking in startled bemusement. Zack offered his most encouraging grin and held out the offending sword by the blade in a reasonable facsimile of a ready pose, then took Cloud’s hand and wrapped his fingers around the dangling hilt. 

“Here, like this.”

As he tilted the blade, Cloud’s grasp of the hilt shifted almost unconsciously as he compensated for the movement.

“See how you’re already readjusting to find a better grip than that? That’s the way …”

-*-

“… my living legacy …”

The words, blood-soaked and rasping, could have been no more than phantoms skating across the yawning abyss that filled Cloud’s torn and fevered mind. But as he stared down at the battered, bloodied face, the dark matted mane, the dimming blue eyes …

… as he stared, lost and uncomprehending, sensation registered. Existence registered.

His hand, wrapped by shaking fingers around the hilt of a massive, blood-stained blade.

A spark lit in the darkness. And his grip settled, tightened.

_‘Here, like this …’_

He looked down at his hands.

The sword … his sword. Yes.

He could do this.

He had done this.

Just a matter of balance – it wasn’t going to bite –

_I will …_

The battered face smiled, and stilled.


End file.
